Strengthening the system as a strategy for change
This is a story about making strategic choices for systems change: it illustrates how you might work out where to intervene in a system, at multiple levels simultaneously, and ultimately recognise that, sometimes, the most ambitious goal and route to impact isn’t scaling your organisation but strengthening the system as a whole.
The story follows Unjani Clinic, a South African non-profit that supports Black female nurses to become healthcare nurse-preneurs and run affordable primary care clinics housed in converted shipping containers. When Unjani Clinic CEO Lynda Toussaint joined a systems change learning programme in 2021, a fundamental shift occurred: she moved from asking, how do we grow our organisation? to how do we strengthen the conditions in which nurse-led primary care can thrive, not just within our network, but across South Africa?
This reorientation meant considering slowing organisational growth and recognising that success depended not on Unjani Clinic’s size, but on the health of the system that they exist within.
Dive in
The full story is available as a downloadable PDF. It is accompanied by a short slide deck designed to support facilitators to bring the story into learning spaces — whether as a brief input or a deeper exploration — inviting reflection on systems change practice and the roles we each play within the systems we are part of.
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